Lecture Outline:
- Fundamentalism and the evangelical tradition in American religious history
- The numerical strength of evangelicalism in America today
- Four distinct meanings of fundamentalism
- Fundamentalism as a global phenomenon
Fundamentalism and the Evangelical Tradition in American History
Religious Vitality in 19th Century America
Factors contributing to religious vitality:
- Immigration
- Expanding frontiers
- Social unrest (civil war)
- Industrialization/urbanization
- Open religious economy
New Religions and New Ideas
- New religious ideas
- Millennialism
- Dispensationalism
- Organizational style
- Revivalism
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Millennialism
- Millennium = 1,000 years
- Millennialism in a generic sense refers to understanding the future
- more specifically, it refers to the millennium of Christian prophecy
- during the 19th century, Christians became profoundly concerned about the millennium
- two radically different views arose:
- postmillenarian
- premillennial
Postmillennalism
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- Postmillennialism is rooted in optimism and perfectionism.
- Christ's thousand year reign on earth will occur after the human race has created a world suitable for his return.
- Postmillenarians viewed the American experience as the working out of God's plan on earth.
Premillennialism
Premillennialists were guided by two factors:
- belief that the world was becoming progressive more wretched; and
- a theological perspective called dispensationalism
- The second coming of Christ was imminent
- This created a sense of urgency to save as many souls as possible before it was too late
- Hence, revivalism became important fixture on the American scene.
Revivalism
- Revivalism is the dominant force in nineteenth century American religious life.
- We have already seen that it fueled the growth of Catholicism and the creation of the Mormon faith tradition.
It also fueled scores of sectarian movements several of which survived to become important religious movements in the twentieth century.
Major sectarian movements:
- Adventism
- Millerites ------> Seventh Day Adentists
- Jehovah's Witnesses
- Holiness movements
- Fundamentalism
- Pentecostalism
Some Important Conceptual Language:
Evangelical
- All these groups were evangelical.
- As evangelicals, they shared common doctrinal positions:
1. Salvation by faith in the atoning death of Jesus
2. Personal conversion
3. Authority of scripture
4. Importance of preaching/proselytizing
Adventism
...belief that the second coming of Christ and the end of the world are near at hand
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Holiness movement
...emphasis placed on proper behavior; piety; seeking perfection
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Fundamentalism
...stresses strict and literal adherence to the authority of the Bible
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Pentecostalism
...emphasizes close spiritual contact with God which is manifest through glossolalia (speaking in tongues) and faith healing
In short....
- Adventists right date
- Holiness right behavior
- Fundamentalism right belief
- Pentecostals right spirit
Protestant Evangelicals = 53,825,000 23%
Fundamentalism has four distinct meanings
- A theological movement
- A political movement
- A caricature
- A global phenomenon
Fundamentalism as a theological movement
- Emerges in latter part of the 19th century as a response to the modernist movement in the churches.
- A defense of the faith against the onslaught of science (especially Darwin)
- The Bible is to be understood as literally true (inerrant)
- A mainstream movement
- The Fundamentals (12 books published 1910-15)
Fundamentalism as a political movement
- Begins in the early 1920s, but is short lived.
- Seeks legislation to impose fundamentalist view on society --- especially in public schools.
- Culmination comes in 1925 with the Scopes Trial in Dayton , Tennessee
John Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution, but the prosecution attorney, William Jennings Bryan dies and so does the movement
Fundamentalism as a caricature
From the Scopes Trial forward, the press and writers of literature have presented an unbroken line of portraits of fundamentalists as small-town, culturally unenlightened fanatics preyed upon by unscrupulous preachers.
- Sinclair Lewis' Elmer Gantry presents the classic stereotype that has been copied again and again.
- With the advent of television, the fundy preachers moved from the revival tent to the television studio.
The only redeeming quality of this phenomenon was the certainty that these Babbitt-like souls would one day become extinct as education and reason eventually spread to the deepest hinterlands of America.
Caricature clouds a reality
The caricature that arose in the Scopes Trial carried a self-fulfilling prophecy, namely that this archaic religious phenomenon simply could not survive.
- Believing that fundamentalism would die out, neither the press or scholars paid much attention.
- Fundamentalism did not wane so much as it passed from public view.
- In reality, fundamentalism has grown steadily through the entire century.
- With the exception of Roman Catholics, it is the single largest religious group in America.
How could something this significant go virtually unnoticed?
- No religious census
- Secular press not interested in religion.
- A large proportion of the fundamentalists reappropriated the name evangelical
- Prone to schism which tends to mask growth
- Greatest concentration is geographically out of the main population centers, i.e., South and Midwest
Rediscovering Fundamentalism
In 1976 Jerry Falwell began a series of "I Love America" rallies which would take him to the capital steps of every state in America.
- In 1979 Falwell created a political groups called the Moral Majority.
- On April 29, 1980 a Washington for Jesus rally drew a half-a-million souls to the Mall
- August 22, 1980, presidential candidate Ronald Reagan endorses fundamentalist rally in Dallas
Fundamentalism as a global phenomenon
- Nov 4, 1979 student "terrorists" take 66 Americans hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Teheran.
- Alternatively they were to a "terrorists," "Shiite Muslims," and "radical supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini."
Rediscovery of fundamentalists in America during the presidential campaign provided inspiration for the press covering the hostage story in Iran. They began referring to Khomeini and his followers as "Islamic Fundamentalists."
- It was a short step to characterizing every radical religious group around the globe as fundamentalists.
- Thus is born global fundamentalism.
Initially the concept had little intellectual integrity.
Global fundamentalism amounted to little more than a label that combined the worst of the three versions of fundamentalism.
- Leaders seen as theological fanatics with
- Politically dangerous agenda and
- Mindless followers
- Select groups were not included
- Mujaheddim
- Liberation theology
The Fundamentalism Project Conclusion:
- Yes, there appears to be a parallel process that is occurring in all faith traditions around the world.
- The process is highly variable
- The form it takes is substantially a function of the cultural mileau in which it exists
- Not all forms of religious radicalism are appropriately identified as fundamentalism
Sociologically speaking, fundamentalism involves two basic premises:
- a refutation of the radical differentiation between the sacred and secular in the modern world.
- a plan to dedifferentiate and bring religion back to center stage as a factor in public policy decisions
FUNDAMENTALISM is the proclamation of reclaimed authority over a sacred tradition which is to be reinstated as an antidote for a society that has strayed from its cultural moorings.
Unpacking the definition
- Fundamentalism so conceived has both theological and political dimensions
- The proclamation of recovery refers to a theological heritage
- This recovery is necessary because the culture has gone astray both theologically and politically
- The application of the principles of the heritage involves a political process.